[Google] ships both the PC and array to teams of scientists at various research institutions, which then connect their local servers to the array via an eSATA connection. Once the data transfer is complete, the drives get sent straight back to Mountain View, where [they] copy the data to Google’s servers for archival purposes. The idea then is that if other scientists around the world needed access to such a large quantity of data, Google would simply reverse the process.

Why is Google in the storage business? Some suggest they have ulterior motives.

While the company remains cagey about its future plans, it’s conceivable that it may be working on a more science-oriented search engine, along the lines of Google Scholar.

http://www.BrianChappell.com Brian Chappell

I guess the more you store, the more you analyze, the better your results will be.

I am also wondering why Google is buying up land in every state, near huge power sources. Do you think their data centers need that much power?

http://www.marketingpilgrim.com Andy Beal

Brian – I would imagine they don’t need it right now – far from it – but if you’re going to build, you may as well prepare for 20-30 years down the road. When online video becomes more mainstream – we’ll all need better ways to send and store 120TB of data.